Multi-unit railroad cars are typically interconnected using couplings, such as articulated connectors, to link one unit to the next. Most often, the connectors include a male casting portion mounted to the end structure of one of the rail car units which is joined to a female casting portion located on the end structure of the adjacent rail car unit. Joining of the male and female portions results in an articulated connection between the rail car units. American Steel Foundries, Inc. (ASF) of Granite City, Ill. and Meridian Rail, Inc. (formerly and hereinafter National Castings) of Lombard, Ill. manufacture the most frequently used connectors of this type in the U.S. industry.
The cargo portion of a railroad train comprises a plurality of multi-unit rail cars linked in this fashion. As such, the driving locomotive is only acting directly on the car adjacent to it, which is then joined to the next unit, etc. The pulling, or pushing, of the rail car units by the locomotive creates a significant level of stress on each connector as each bears the entire force of the rest of the rail cars. Any contact between the male and female casting portions and their associated components results in wear on those contact areas of the connectors.
The stress placed on the connectors results in wearing of the metal at several points of contact between the male and female portions of the connectors, or their respective components, due to impact and frictional contact. Particular points of wear include the bottom ring surface and anterior surfaces of the bores of the female portion of the connector, and the bottom bearing surface, the spherical anterior surface of the opening 32 (as shown in FIG. 1) and the front spherical surface of the male portion of the connector. Commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,490,393 and 6,944,925 describe processes for reconditioning the front surface 30 of the male portion of the connector and the front surfaces of the bores of the female portion of the connector as well as the anterior surfaces of the bores of the female portion of the connector.
As articulated connector castings are an integral part of the car structure and are difficult and expensive components to replace, it is favorable to repair or recondition the connectors as opposed to replacing them or the entire rail car. Connector castings can commonly travel 1,200,000 miles or more without the need for significant maintenance. In the past, reconditioning of most rail car components has involved removing various parts from the rail car and reapplying them back into place after such reconditioning. Some couplers have been reconditioned in this way, especially those removable by design. Articulated connectors, however, are not suited for such removal and repair since they are integral to the car and such repair would be inefficient, time consuming, and expensive.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method of reconditioning rail car connectors such that the reconditioning occurs while the castings are still attached to the rail cars. It is a further object of this invention to simplify the measurement of portions of the connectors ensuring that the connectors are reconditioned to the appropriate dimensions, including the use of appropriate gauges. It is yet a further object of this invention to provide a method of reconditioning rail car connectors utilizing gauges to take measurements of the connectors while still attached to the rail car. It is still another object of this invention to provide a method for reconditioning rail car connectors using less labor-intensive processes by eliminating the need to invert a rail car in order to perform reconditioning of the connectors, although the process can be used on inverted rail cars as well.